Boss In Mook Clothing / Pokémon

Recurring and Series-Wide Examples

• "Roaming" legendaries, which can appear in any random patch of grass once they are active. There you are taking a casual stroll through the grass at route X when, suddenly, "A wild Raikou appeared!". More often than not, they will run away from you instead of wiping out your party (which is challenging in a different way). Several of them possess Roar or Whirlwind to forcefully eject you from battle even if you use a means (Mean Look, Arena Trap, etc.) to prevent them from fleeing.
• The Vs Seeker, added in Gen III, is an item that charges up while you walk and allows rematches with some standard trainers. In most cases, it is a simple rematch with that trainer using the same team of Pokémon. However, some trainers have teams that are set to level up alongside you as you progress through the game (and it's often impossible to tell which trainers will have these improved teams before battling them). It's easy to be blindsided by, for example, a Bug Catcher even your low-level Starter Mon was able to wipe the floor with early in the game suddenly coming at you with a well-built team of Pokémon at around the same level as your own party.
• Bronzor, and its evolution Bronzong, in Generations IV and V. As a Steel/Psychic-type, the only super-effective move types against it are Ground and Fire, and its high all-around resilience means that defeating it without type advantages is challenging. As well, there's a chance that you'll only have access to one of those types, or even neither, considering the near-absence of Fire-type options in Diamond/Pearl. Worse, if it has the ability Heatproof, it will resist Fire and, if it has Levitate, Ground is completely negated. Further, there is no way to know which ability it has until you try to use a move of one of those types. In later areas, they can appear at levels likely much more competitive with your main party than they were earlier on, being potentially challenging battles if you're unequipped to handle it. They also learn some really annoying moves (Hypnosis to put you to sleep, Confuse Ray to confuse you, Block to prevent you from fleeing, etc.). Fortunately, they're so slow you can usually run away from them (unless it uses the aforementioned Block), but God help you against Lucian's Bronzong in D/P.
  • Taken even further in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers, where Pokémon have both of their abilities at once. Yes, that means that Bronzor and Bronzong have no weakness at all there, really limiting your options for defeating them.
  • As of Gen VI, they've been Nerfed as Steel no longer resists Ghost- and Dark-type moves (strong against Psychic-types), giving Bronzor and Bronzong a consistent pair of weaknesses.
• Ace Trainers/Cooltrainers and Veteran Trainers are often Bosses in Mook Clothing, because they tend to have good Pokémon that are often higher-level than most trainers in that area, their teams are more synergistic with better coverage, and they use better strategies.
• Wobbuffet is a blue punching-bag looking Pokémon which can learn only eight attacks total and has offensive, defensive, and Speed stats that are pathetically low... until you look closer. Its only good stat is HP, which is the fourth highest of all Pokémon, (inferior only to Chansey and her evolved form Blissey, and to Guzzlord, an Ultra Beast), and two of its moves are Counter and Mirror Coat, which do double the damage of the respective physical or special attack it received. It also has Encore, which makes you use the same move every turn, eliminating the need for Wobbuffet trainers to predict if the opponent will use a Physical or Special move. Even if you do knock it out, its fourth move, Destiny Bond, ensures your Pokémon is going down with it. Want to use status moves on it to eliminate the risk? It can also know Safeguard, which protects it from all such moves. And last but not least, Wobbuffet has the ability Shadow Tag, which stops you from escaping or even switching out to something more suited to take care of it, unless you're using a Ghost-type (in generation VI onwards). There is a good reason they are the bane of Nuzlocke players everywhere.
• In certain generations, this trope is inverted with certain trainer classes using overworld sprites that belong to the more advanced ones. It's rather relieving that the "Ace Trainer" that spotted you is sporting rather forgettable Com Mons like Hoothoot and Noctowl.
• Slaking has an absurdly high Attack and HP, with good speed and physical defense to boot, and an overall BST approaching some legendaries. They also learn a variety of powerful moves including the hard-hitting Hammer Arm. Fortunately, if you know what you're doing, you can exploit their handicapping ability, Truant, which causes them to skip every other turn. You can even encounter them in the wild in Black 2/White 2, where they can take you by surprise. Even worse, some trainers have strategies to nullify their Ability, allowing them to destroy you twice as fast. Norman's rematch teams in Emerald have this strategy, as well as Cipher Head Evice.
• "Pseudo Legendaries" are rare Pokémon with BSTs just below those of true legendaries, typically boasting high Attack and Speed, and since most are part Dragon-types, they boast resistances to most common elemental types as well. One of the few that isn't, Metagross, is instead a Mighty Glacier with its own strong defensive typing in Steel/Psychic. A special mention goes to Garchomp and Mega Salamence which each got banned by Smogon in their introductory generations. Facing any in-game trainer who uses these is guaranteed to be a challenge and you're likely to see at least one on the team of each champion. Gen VI took steps to Nerf them, especially by adding the Fairy-type which is outright immune to the Dragon-type, while Metagross is nerfed by changes to type resistances (Steel losing its resistance to Ghost and Dark).
• Furfrou. They have the ability Fur Coat to reduce the power of physical attacks (like their only weakness, Fighting) and a lot of them like to reduce attack even further with Baby Doll Eyes. If that wasn't enough they like using the accuracy-lowering Sand Attack making it harder to hit them at all. All this while they are hitting you with STAB Headbutt—which could make your Pokémon flinch. X/Y even has a double trainer battler where your opponents will each use a Furfrou...

Generation I and Remakes

Pokémon Red and Blue (and Yellow), FireRed and LeafGreen, and Pokémon Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!

• In the originals, a Team Rocket member in Mt. Moon has a Raticate (evolved form of Rattata) that knows Hyper Fang, an 80 base damage move it gets a STAB on top of. At that point in the game, the move is going to deal massive damage to almost anything in your party, if not an outright One-Hit KO. It is also fast for this this point in the game, so its very possible it can strike first. In Yellow and each remake, his team is downgraded to a much weaker Rattata and Sandshrew.
• Dugtrio, the evolved form of Diglett, is a rare encounter in the eponymous Diglett's Cave. They're overleveled for the stage of the game where you can first enter the Cave (as high as level 31 while most other Pokémon in the surrounding area are only around level 20). Beyond the level, Dugtrio is incredibly fast, almost always outpacing the player's Pokémon, which ensures it will usually attack first, makes it hard to run away from, and (in the originals), increases its Critical Hit chance. They also know Dig, which in the original games is a very powerful move, and can easily knock out multiple members of the player's team if they aren't prepared. In the remakes, Dig is a significantly weaker move, but they're just as high-leveled and can now have the ability Arena Trap, which makes it impossible to switch out or run away from them if the player's Pokémon isn't a Flying-type. There is a silver lining, though—it's very possible to catch one for yourself and flip this back on the game.
• The first Juggler you are likely to fight (Juggler Kayden in FR/LG) in the Fuchsia City Gym only has one Pokémon, but that Pokémon is a level 38 Hypno (which is a higher level than two of the Gym Leader's Mons.) It is also of the broken Psychic type, so your options to counter it are relatively few, and he's in the middle of a Poison-type gym, so it's quite unexpected. (It is possible to skip fighting him, at least). Jugglers in general are one of the scarier encounters, since they basically all use Psychic-types (Drowzee, Hypno, and Kadabra)—the only easy fight among them is, ironically, a Victory Road Juggler (Juggler Gregory in FR/LG) with a level 48 Mr. Mime (at that level, it only has the weak DoubleSlap as an attacking move).
• On Route 6, there's a Bug Catcher with a Lv. 20 Butterfree. It's a fully evolved Pokémon at a point where most other Pokémon are just starting to hit their second stages and knows Sleep Powder to put your Pokémon to sleep. In Gen I, waking up from sleep takes up your turn, which can be crippling (later gens allow you to act on the same turn you wake up) but in the remakes, it gets another advantage with the ability Compound Eyes that makes its status inflicting attacks more likely to hit.
• An unskippable Hiker in Rock Tunnel has two Geodude and a Graveler that each know Self-Destruct. At that point in the game, it is enough to take out (or at least significantly damage) most of the Pokémon you'll reasonably have. This is especially challenging for someone doing a Solo-Character Run, to the point where he's treated as an extra boss encounter when runners make videos of their solo play-throughs.

Generation II and Remakes

Pokémon Gold and Silver (and Crystal), plus HeartGold and SoulSilver

• Hiker Anthony waits just outside of Union Cave and is tricky to avoid. He uses a Geodude and Machop which are both at relatively high levels for this point in the game and possess decently strong STAB moves in Rock Throw and Low Kick, respectively. If you're weakened coming out of the cave and/or have poor type matchups (both distict possibilities at this early point in the game), he can be a punishing encounter. In Crystal, he can also catch the player off-guard with his fully-evolved Machamp in his first rematch, which is replaced with a Machoke in subsequent rematches; the remakes fix this oddity.
• In Crystal, Eusine's Electrode can be incredibly dangerous, possessing the powerful (if inaccurate) Thunder and knowing Rollout that builds in power with each use until it can floor your entire team - not helped by the fact Electrode is really fast and all but guaranteed to outspeed your team. If you don't take it out quickly, it will destroy your party.
• In HG/SS, on Route 47, after coming out the north exit of Cliff Cave en route to the Safari Zone, there awaits a Double Battle with trainers using a Level 25 Electabuzz and Magmar. They have high-powered STAB moves in Thunderbolt and Flamethrower, and they have moves like Thunder Wave and Confuse Ray to paralyze and confuse you, respectively. Thankfully, they can be avoided if you're careful in going around.

Generation III and Remakes

Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire (and Emerald), plus Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire

• Players tend to desperately avoid Cooltrainer Jennifer on Route 120. She only has a single Pokémon, but it's a powerful Water-type Milotic at level 31, relatively high for the area. It has monstrously high HP and Special Defense, while knowing moves like Refresh (clears status effects), Recover (restores 50% HP), and Water Pulse (a Water-type attack it gets a STAB for and can cause confusion). It can absorb multiple super-effective attacks, heal with Recover, and Refresh prevents you from wearing it down with Poison and Burns while its ability, Marvel Scale, boosts its defenses if you try. Even worse, the rainy weather on the route further boosts Milotic's Water-type moves on top of its STAB for using them. It can easily result in a Total Party Kill even more effectively than most actualy bosses. Emerald replaces it with a much-easier Sableye instead, but she returns with a Milotic in the remakes at an even higher level.
• In Emerald, at the very end of Victory Road, there are two Cooltrainers (Katelynn and Quincy) who are well-hidden beneath a bridge, making it very easy to walk into a Double Battle against them. They open with a Slaking and Gardevoir, the latter having Skill Swap, which exchanges abilities with the target. As mentioned under "Recurring" examples, Slaking is a behemoth with a BST nearing legendary levels, held in check by its detrimental Truant ability that prevents it from moving on every other turn. Do the math. If you manage to take them out, the trainers next send out Dusclops (male) and another Slaking (female), another tricky combination owing to Dusclops pure Ghost-typing and Slaking being, well, Slaking.
• In the remakes, the DexNav can turn random wild encounters into this. Pokémon encountered this way can come with an Egg Move, a Hidden Ability, and/or perfect IVs, making them more challenging. If you chain the same species long enough, there's a chance to spawn one up to 30 levels higher than the others in the area. This could make Wurmple dangerous.
• Every ORAS speedrunner dreads the fight against Black Belt Hideki in the Dewford Gym. While normal players will likely speed past him with Ralts or Taillow and not give him a second thought, he is infamous among speedrunners for his absurd difficulty relative to his generic status. His Machop has almost perfect IVs, making it much stronger than its level would indicate, and his moveset includes Focus Energy to raise its critical hit rate, and Low Sweep which is fairly strong for that point in the game and additionally lowers your speed, allowing him to get another hit in before Mudkip can hit it back. His high stats relative to his level along with random AI turns beating Hideki in an ORAS speedrun into a Luck-Based Mission. To make things worse, he is immediately preceded by a Meditite user packing Confusion, another move that can randomly screw you over; and immediately followed by Leader Brawly, another difficult and RNG-heavy fight.

Generation IV and Remakes

Pokémon Diamond and Pearl (and Platinum), plus Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl

• Hiker Alexander on Route 208, who you can't reach until you get Rock Climb, has a level 40 Probopass that knows Block (prevents you from switching out), Thunder Wave (causes paralysis), Sandstorm (a weather effect that deals damage each turn to non-Rock/Ground/Steel-types), and Rock Slide (hard-hitting Rock-type move that can cause flinching and Probopass gets a STAB for). To top it all off, Probopass has gargantuan Defense, which makes knocking it out quickly even with super-effective moves a challenge and buys it time to set up.
• Ace Trainers Dennis and Maya at the north entrance to Veilstone City use high-powered Pokémon for the area (Gyarados and Drifblim in D/P, Lickitung and Gligar in Platinum) at a point where you'll only have two-three badges. You can battle them individually if you talk to them from the side, but if you're rushing toward the city entrance, you'll get stuck in a Double Battle against both of them at the same time. Have fun.
• PI Carlos on Route 214, south of Veilstone City, has only has one Pokémon - a level 23 Goldeen, which normally wouldn't be much of a threat. However, it knows Horn Drill (which Goldeen doesn't normally learn until level 41), an automatic One-Hit KO move with a 30% chance to hit anything at a lower level. In Platinum, its instead at level 30, making it more likely that it outlevels your Pokémon. It can be frustrating if it hits in a normal playthrough, but is the bane of Nuzlocke players and has caused more than a few Rage Quits.
• Ponyta as a wild encounter. It's always encountered in grassy areas, usually where you expect Grass-types or, worse, Water-types (so that you're using Grass-type which is weak to Fire), has wicked high Attack for its level, they have high Speed so they're hard to run away from, and they have the move Stomp, which does insane amounts of damage (Base 65 damage in the early areas of game where most Pokémon are lucky to have something at 50) for the low level Ponyta learns it at. They can easily decimate a low-level team you're trying to train up.

Generation V

Pokémon Black and White and Pokémon Black 2 and White 2

• For the first time in the series, outside of special circumstances, fully evolved Pseudo Legendaries including Dragonite, Metagross, and Tyranitar, can be found as wild encounters. Needless to say, running into one of these unexpectedly can be quite the unpleasant surprise.
• While they were introduced in Gen IV, the Veteran class of NPC trainers get some challenging enhancements. They typically have large teams of 4-6 high-level, fully evolved Pokémon with good coverage and synergy. Further, they have enhanced battling AI and will use advanced tactics against you. Stumbling into one unprepared can be a major challenge, but a few are worth special mention:
  • In B/W, Veteran Shaun is in the post-game Challenger's Cave. His party contains six powerful Pokémon - Gyarados, Crobat, Druddigon, Excadrill, Gigalith, and Snorlax - all of which are probably about 10-15 levels above your current party (63 for Snorlax, 62 for all others), assuming you dive right into the cave after beating the main story. He probably could have wiped the floor with both Team Plasma and the Champion without breaking a sweat. In B2/W2, he instead appears at Wellspring Cave, with the exact same team. (Snorlax lost its extra level, at least.) If you want that Focus Blast TM behind him, you better hope you know how to get past him.
  • In Pinwheel Forest, there is a double battle with two Veteran trainers who have a Ludicolo, Electivire, Forretress, Crobat, Magmortar, and a Leafeon between them, all fully evolved with great coverage. While you have Cheren with you, two of his three Pokémon aren't very good and tend to get knocked out quickly, leaving you stuck in a two-on-one battle.
  • There is another tough double battle against two Veterans in Victory Road. Veteran Claude uses a Braviary and a Carracosta, while Veteran Cecile uses a Mandibuzz and an Archeops. You can avoid these two trainers completely if you want (and honestly, you have to kind of go out of your way to get to them), but you have to get past them if you want the Wild Charge TM that's behind them.
  • Route 18 in B2/W2 has four Veterans, each of which are flatly insane (and guard valuable items). Gina has a Rotation Battle with a Kingdra, Skarmory, and Donphan, all of which are level 68 (73 in Challenge Mode). Chester has a Staraptor, Relicanth, and Krookodile in a Rotation Battle at level 68 as well. But then there's Vincent and Maya, who have pseudo-legendaries at a whopping level 70 (75 in Challenge Mode). Vincent's Tyranitar will shrug off whatever you throw at it, even its weaknesses (with the sole exception of Fighting-types), as its Special Defense spikes because of the sandstorm it creates upon entry. Meanwhile, Maya's Salamence will most likely outspeed whatever you've got, weaken your Attack just by being sent in, and slam you with the outrageously powerful Draco Meteor. Oh, and you can fight all these Veterans as soon as you beat the Champion.
• Like previous generations, Ace Trainers are another tough NPC trainer class and these games have them in spades. Ace Trainer Stella is on the lowest floor of Chargestone Cave and has a Lilligant that knows Mega Drain, Teeter Dance, and Quiver Dance, the latter being one of the most Game Breaking status buffs in the series, turning it into a Lightning Bruiser and special Stone Wall at the same time! She'll confuse you with Teeter Dance giving her time to set up, beef up with Quiver Dance, and then use Mega Drain to damage you while stealing HP. Due to these factors, anything short of a first-turn One-Hit KO on her Lilligant turns this battle into a straight-up Luck-Based Mission.
• Just outside of Nacrene City (home of the second gym), there is a patch of dark grass which a few items laying around. As you pass through to grab them, you can find yourself in battle with a level 17 Sawk or Throh (depending on your version), which have base stat totals of 465 - on par with some fully evolved Pokémon - plus base Attack stats of 125 and 100, respectively, with Fighting-type STAB moves supereffective against most of the Com Mons you'll reasonably have at that point. Good luck if you're on a Nuzlocke run...
• There is a seemingly harmless boy in one office in Castelia City who can be battled after beating the main story. Once you agree to battle him, he's revealed to be GAME FREAK Morimoto, based on one of the game designers, with a full team at levels in the mid-70s. Good luck. In B2/W2, Morimoto can be challenged much earlier in the game, and his team is much lower-leveled. However, there's another trainer in the same room named Nishino (also based on a game designer) who's similar. After you defeat the Elite Four, Morimoto's team becomes much like it was in the previous game, and Nishino's also becomes much more powerful.
• In B2/W2, an early trainer of the usually easy Nursery Aide class packs a level 11 Dunsparce that knows Rollout, a move that increases in power with each use and can take out nearly any Pokémon you reasonably have at that point. You have no Revives available at that point and you're limited mostly to your Starter Mon and Com Mons. Downplayed in that she is thankfully easy to avoid and, if you're lucky enough to catch a Riolu at Flocessy Ranch who has learned its first Fighting-type STAB move, can take he down without much fuss.
• B2/W2 adds Triple and Rotation Battles all over the place, with one of the worst being the Triple Battle against Parasol Lady Tyra at the Moor of Icirrus entrance. Surprisingly for a mid-class trainer, she actually fields a weather team to take advantage of the constant rainfall on Route 8; a Swift Swim Ludicolo (meaning it will almost definitely get the first strike with a 150% power Hydro Pump), as well as a Jolteon and a Castform, both getting 100% accurate Thunder. All at Level 60. However, it's possible to encounter her when the weather is not rain, where she is still tough but nowhere near as bad.
• If you use Memory Link, there's a 1-5% chance of encountering a level 35 Zen Mode Darmanitan in the Desert Resort, when your team is probably in its mid to late 20s. You're trying to fight and catch something that's incredibly powerful from the beginning, and turning even stronger at half health. And since it will likely outspeed you, expect to be visiting the Nurse in that area to have your Pokémon revived.
• In B2/W2 on Route 12, you have a 15% chance of running into Heracross (Black 2) or Pinsir (White 2). ^note You can encounter them in the previous set of games, but they're about level 50 and you can handle them by then. They have endgame stats, combined with very high offensive power, good speed, and solid defenses. Plus, they pack powerful Fighting-type moves and strong Bug-type moves, including Close Combat on Heracross which gets STAB, which means one could very well wipe a few of your team members. About this point, your starter may have just evolved to its final form if you spent lots of time grinding, and these bugs are about that level when not in dark grass- in which case they're level 40-42 and there's a chance of running into two of them at the same time. If you have a Ghost-type you should be fine against them, but otherwise, hang on for dear life. You also have a 5% chance of running into them in the Lostlorn Forest, which you can access as soon as you reach Nimbasa City. They're only level 24 and their movesets aren't as powerful at the time, but they can still catch you by surprise.

Generation VI

Pokémon X and Y

• For a small fee, you can take taxis to get around Lumiose City quickly. However, if you use one without the funds to pay for it, the driver will challenge you to a battle instead. The possible Pokémon they will use against you include a level 33 Sandile, Sandile's evolved form, Krokorok, at level 55, and Krokorok's evolved form, Krookodile, at level 66. For comparison, the league champion's Pokémon have an average level of 65.5, with her strongest being level 68. If you stumble into this on your first visit to Lumiose (when you're most likely to be low on funds), even the Sandile can result in a Total Party Kill.
• Route 5 plays host to Rising Star Hamish, who uses a level 13 Kadabra (three levels lower than Abra normally evolves). Kadabra is incredibly fast and powerful for this stage of the game and hits hard with STAB Confusion, which has a chance to confuse your Pokémon to prevent a counterattack. The saving grace is that he can be skipped if you don't think you're ready, but if you're new to the game and are just fighting every trainer you come across, have fun.
• Upon returning from Parfum Palace, players can challenge a Poké Family in a Double Battle with two Furfrou. They're at level 14, likely to outspeed anything you've got, only take half damage from physical attacks (which is the majority of what early game Pokémon know) thanks to their Fur Coat ability, can flinch-lock you with STAB Headbutt, and lower your Attack with Growl and Baby-Doll Eyes. Even with Pokémon at their same level (or even a little higher), they are very difficult to take down.
• Another encounter when returning from Parfum Palace is Tourist Takemi, who only has a single Pokémon, a Volbeat. Seems like an easy battle, but unless you get incredibly lucky, appearances are very, very deceiving. It's difficult to take out in one or even two shots, which becomes a major problem when you consider its moveset: Confuse Ray, Double Team, Moonlight, and Tackle. It'll confuse you and increase its evasion with the first two moves, and if you manage to land a hit, it'll just heal it off with the third. You can't even constantly switch to PP stall it because of Tackle (which has a PP of 35), so you'd better have a string of good luck before this thing manages to wipe out your whole team through confusion damage.
• Rising Star Paulette on Route 8, has an Axew, likely the first Dragon-type to be encountered in the game, and it knows Dragon Rage, a Fixed Damage Attack that always deals 40 damage. It can two-hit anything you reasonably have that early in the game. Unless you manage to get your hands on a Fairy-type (immune to Dragon-type moves), this fight could take a while if not destroy you entirely.
• Another is Rising Star Manon, who you encounter in the Cyllage City Gym. Unlike the other trainers, including Grant, she sports two Rock types that can take a hit and set up: Lunatone and Solrock. They lack a crippling 4x weakness, have solid defenses to survive whatever you throw at them, and will likely use Hypnosis to put you to sleep. Then, once your mon is rendered asleep, they will likely utilize Cosmic Power to buff up their defenses even more. The only saving grace is that she doesn't use any healing items.
• Brains and Brawn Frank and Sly, just outside the Reflection Cave, are another infamous pair of trainers. They use a Machoke and Mr. Mime in a double battle, both at a very high level for that point in the game. Machoke hits incredibly hard from the physical side with Low Sweep, while Mr. Mime hits equally hard on the special side with Psybeam and will also use Reflect to raise the defenses of both of them. Mr. Mime is particularly tough to take down due to this generation giving it the new Fairy typing, which eliminates the Psychic-type's most common weaknesses. (Leaving Ghost as the only reliable way to deal Super Effective damage at that point)
• Battle Girl Hedvig is a Fighting-type trainer in Reflection Cave. Her Throh is incredibly bulky and hits very hard, while her Hawlucha is super fast and has amazing coverage, including Rock Tomb for your Flying-types. Specifically; no Pokémon in the entire game except Honedge (which can thankfully be caught before this point and is good enough to be a mainstay in any in-game run) resists its Fighting/Flying/Rock coverage combination. Contrast to Korrina's Hawlucha a short while later which is completely walled by Ghost-types.
• On Route 18 is the Inverse Battle House. Once a day, you can challenge Inver, who inverts type effectiveness. For example, Fire-type moves are not very effective against Grass-type Pokémon instead of the other way around, and Fighting-types can hit Ghost-type Pokémon for super-effective damage (normally no effect). That's not what makes it difficult. Inver's Pokémon are all high-leveled (55 before beating the Champion, and 65 afterwards), have perfect stats, and have good movesets/items. That's what makes it difficult. (He reappears in Alpha Sapphire and Omega Ruby, but is encountered earlier in the game and is much weaker.)
• Victory Road contains a plethora of them. Similar to Victory Road in the Gen V games (particularly Black and White 2) in the sense that the cave branches to outside where there are trainers waiting at high levels. With a total of 22 trainers to take on, including a double battle, Veterans, and your rival, you're likely to get caught off-guard here. Not only that, but the wild Pokémon are as high as Level 59, which is high as the Gym Leader that you just beat to get here, and can include the Pseudo Legendary Hydreigon. Hope you didn't turn off that Exp. Share!

Generation VII

Pokémon Sun and Moon and Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon

• On Route 3, there's a rare chance there will be a level 10 Salamence, which thankfully only have a 1% chance of appearing during an S.O.S battle.
• There are several opponents in both of these games that have their Pokémon very buffed, with most of the big battles such as kahunas and the like having 30 IVs in multiple stats, sometimes all six, and they have max EVs, too. While this may not jump out at you in your first playthrough or two, it becomes apparent when opponents do things to you that you feel like shouldn't be happening, or won't in other games (i.e. they're faster than you, OHKO you without a critical hit, take less than half from your attacks, etcetera). There are even some regular trainers - typically Rising Stars, Veterans and "beat every other trainer" opponents - who may have one or two stats as maxed out as they can get.
• Madame Elizabeth at Paniola Ranch has a level 15 Carbink, who proves that a Stone Wall can still be amazing at combat. It buffs itself up with Sharpen while you try to pierce its powerful defenses (which it can boost with Harden), and then follows up with Smack Down and Rock Throw. After a few Sharpens, the amount of available Pokémon that can survive a Smack Down is very small; even two of the three starters are easily beaten. Worse yet, it has the Clear Body ability, which prevents you from lowering its stats, so once it gets those boosts in, they can't be lowered barring a move like Haze or Clear Smog. Without a good Steel (for quadruple damage!), Grass, or Water move, it becomes a battle of Potion spamming while chipping it down slowly. Oh, and Madame Elizabeth packs a Full Restore and she isn't afraid to use it.
• Route 8 gives us Rising Star Nicki. Who only has one Pokémon, but it's a level 21 Miltank with Rollout, Milk Drink and Stomp^note And Bide instead of Attract. Hold on, that sounds familiar. The Ultra games replaced her Miltank with a Stufful, but said Stufful hits hard.
• Fitting for the end of the incredibly brutal Poni Gauntlet, the final trainers guarding near the entrance is a Double Battle with a Veteran Duo, who will make your life hell. In the original, their first Pokémon are Comfey and Wishiwashi. On top of that they have a Lilligant that has Helping Hand and After You, which will make the bulkier teammate go first, Alomomola another Combat Medic as well as Electivire and Turtonator. Naturally they have good AI to shut down your teams. Beat them? Didn't heal because you think you can at the Battle Tree? Enjoy suddenly fighting Red or Blue, especially in the original!^note In Ultra, you're still thrown straight into battle with them upon entrance, and their teams are four levels higher than in the original, but they are merciful enough to heal up your Pokémon before battle.
• Despite being classified as regular encounters, the Ultra Beasts you have to capture in the postgame can be devilishly hard to beat, especially since you're trying to catch them rather than just wipe them out. They have monstrous stats (at least in 1 or 2 categories) and you most likely won't know their typings unless you spoiled the game beforehand. And to make things even worse, they have an aura that boosts one of their stats at the start of the fight, and an ability that raises their highest stat every time they KO a Pokémon, which they will most likely be doing a lot.
  • Xurkitree is more difficult to encounter in comparison to UB-01 and 02, boasting a monstrous Special Attack stat that's further bolstered by its boosts, powerful Electric attacks like Discharge and strong coverage moves like Power Whip to take down anyone who thought they could cheese its encounter with Ground-types. Chances are, anything that doesn't move faster than it will be killed in one shot even if it resists Electric attacks.
  • Also Guzzlord, although it could qualify as That One Boss as there's only one of them. It has extremely high attack and HP stats which allow it to shred your team with Thrash (which will usually one or two shot anything in your team) while tanking your attacks. By the time you've whittled it down enough to use a Beast Ball on it, chances are that over half your team is gone.
• Necrozma, who only appears after you've captured all the Ultra Beasts in the postgame. There is no indication that it even exists and where it is, and if you just so happen to be Level Grinding at Ten Carat Hill, then... "Necrozma appeared!" It's level 75, has extremely high stats and comes equipped with Prismatic Laser. which will more or less one-shot everything that doesn't resist it. And if you want to catch it, good luck—it has a very low catch rate and high HP/Defense values you must beat through first.
• Z-Trainers. On some routes, there's a special trainer who will only offer a battle after defeating every other trainer on the route. There's a good reason for that. Z-Trainers pack rare Pokémon with higher stats and levels than the rest of the trainers in the area, and often use high-powered Z-Moves you don't have access to, or use held items and move/ability combinations that allow for high-level strategies. For example, the first Z-Trainer, on Route 3, uses Stealth Rock (damages your Pokémon upon switch-in) in combination with the Red Card item (switches your Pokémon out when they land a hit on the item holder) and Yawn (puts your Pokémon to sleep after the next turn unless they switch out). Beating them rewards you with TMs and rare items.
  • And on that note, in Ultra, that aforementioned trainer keeps the Slowpoke, but instead of the Rockruff, worse yet is his Butterfree, which has Silver Wind, and despite being a type that's normally resisted by several types, it can hit extremely hard even with that thanks to its Tinted Lens ability, which removes the "not very effective" from it and allows it to deal big damage, even if you have something like a Hawlucha or Zubat that 4x resists it. Further heightening that is that it has the chance to boost all its stats by one stage, and it can also use Roost to heal off any damage you might do to it. His saving grace is that Silver Wind is its only attack and has 5 PP, so you just need to survive five hits of that, and there are other strong "beat every other trainer" opponents, but this one is not one to tread lightly against.
  • Special mention to the Route 5 Z-Trainer in Ultra; who packs a Mr. Mime whose levels indicate it shouldn't be fought until after Totem Lurantis; but is available to fight before you even start Mallow's trial. And it has Psychicium Z. Its only saving grace is that you can't explore all of Route 5 on your first visit, so your team might be a bit higher levelled.
• Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon add Office Worker Dugal in Konikoni City. His Clamperl is a bulky Pokémon holding an Eviolite and spamming Iron Defense to boost those defenses even more. And it also has Scald which is a powerful STAB attack with a high chance of inflicting a burn and reducing attack even further.
• If Xurkitree was too hard to beat in Sun and Moon, then be scared if you are playing Ultra Sun, as Blacephalon is even worse. It too is a powerful special attacker that gets a +2 Special Attack boost upon being encountered... but this time, there's no Pokémon such as Alolan Marowak for the former that is immune to its STABs and takes nothing from its coverage moves - of the Alola Pokédex, Ghost and Fire are only resisted by the likes of Houndoom, Sharpedo and Tyranitar, the former two of which are so frail it's as if they didn't resist it. Even if you can keep it under control and try to catch it, it has Mind Blown, which deals huge damage to both itself (specifically half its maximum HP) and the target, possibly fainting itself in the process. The fact the game never tells you you can just run away or let it faint, so that you can encounter it after starting Episode RR makes things more painful.

Generation VIII

Pokémon Sword and Shield and Pokémon Legends: Arceus

• On Route 10 there is a Postman who uses a Pelipper. Seems easy, right? Wrong. If you don't kill it in one hit, preferably with a powerful Electric strike, it spams Roost, meaning that no matter how much you damage it it will be back up to full health faster than you can say "This will be easy." And on the rare occasion where it actually attacks it packs some pretty powerful moves that can easily down you. Thankfully, the Noctowl that follows is much easier to deal with.
• The Wild Area is chock-full of these, bordering on Hopeless Boss Fight at times, as it can spawn wild Pokémon much higher-leveled than the ones you can expect to have raised up to that point. One of your first experiences with this will likely be outside Motostoke, where it's entirely possible to run into, say, a level 26 Onix at a point in the game where your own Pokémon are in the low 10s. Oh, and the level advantage means you often can't run away; there's a good reason why the NPC at the first Wild Area train station gives you a bunch of free Poké Dolls. This area might be the only place in the entire series where it's probably safer to stay in the tall grass, since these over-leveled Pokémon tend to stand out in the open.
• Legends Arceus has Alpha Pokémon. These Pokémon are typically much larger, always aggressive, much higher levelled than you are when you start in the area, get unique music, have smarter AI, and are able to use Agile and Strong Style moves. They also give better rewards for either defeating or capturing them compared to any other Pokémon. They can dismount players from most Ride Pokémon too (other then Basculigeon and Braviary). While there are Pokémon that are permanently Alphas no matter what, there's also about a 1-2% chance a regular Pokémon can spawn as an Alpha.
  • Alpha Zubat deserve special mention in this category. While most Alphas are easy to identify from a distance thanks to their glowing red eyes, Zubat doesn't have eyes, so a number of players have gotten into battles with what looks like a large but innocuous Zubat... up until the message "The Alpha Zubat is filled with wild might!"

Generation IX

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

• South Area Province One, otherwise a Green Hill Zone, has Black Belt Alejandro. The local wild Pokémon are quite weak and every other standard trainer has only one or two level 4-7 Pokémon. Alejandro, however, has three: a level 11 Rockruff, a level 12 Lechonk, and a level 12 Makuhita. In addition to their higher levels, they have oddly good synergy. Rockruff knows Sand Attack and Double Team to tank your accuracy, Lechonk knows Mud Shot to lower your speed, and Makuhita knows Fake Out (to get a free initial hit in) as well as Focus Energy (increases Critical Hit odds) and Arm Thrust (a multi-hit attack) which can combine to be lethal to the low-level Pokémon you'll have at this point. Stumbling into Alejandro unprepared can easily lead to defeat and there are some who consider him even tougher than the first Gym Leader due to his early location and strong, synergistic team.

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